Paladin, winner of last month's Risen Star Stakes (G2) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots and the early favorite for the May 2 Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs, is absent from the $1 million Louisiana Derby (G2) March 21 at the New Orleans track, but his trainer, Chad Brown, still runs a contender.
While Brown awaits the April 4 Blue Grass Stakes (G1) with Paladin, the five-time Eclipse Award-winning conditioner runs a stablemate, Emerging Market, who scored on debut at Tampa Bay Downs in a swiftly run maiden race Feb. 7 that garnered him a 97 Beyer Speed Figure, one of the highest among 3-year-olds in 2026.
If he can replicate that speed against more seasoned rivals in the Louisiana Derby, a 1 3/16-mile race that serves as the longest domestic prep on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, he could take home the lucrative purse and earn sufficient qualifying points to punch his ticket to Churchill Downs for the opening leg of the Triple Crown. Offering points on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale, as does Saturday's $777,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) at Turfway Park, these races essentially offer guaranteed berths in the Derby starting gate to any horse that runs either first or second.
That's provided the connections want to run. Even in the case of the Ruby, contested over an all-weather track, most owners opt to take their chances in the Derby, a bucket-list race, rather than an alternative that presents a greater chance of victory.
But Brown and owner Seth Klarman of Klaravich Stables have been known to exercise Derby caution, particularly with lightly raced runners—moves that have paid dividends in the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes (G1), contested just two weeks after the Derby in Maryland.
Back in 2017, Brown scored his first win in a Triple Crown race when he won the 1 3/16-mile Preakness with Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence's Cloud Computing, and five years later, he struck again with Early Voting for Klaravich Stables.
Neither horse raced in the Louisiana Derby—they each lost their respective editions of the Wood Memorial Stakes (G2) in New York after victories at first asking. Had they won their preps, passing the Derby might have been more difficult.
As for Emerging Market, Brown told Fair Grounds publicity, "In all honesty, we're not looking past Saturday. He has a tough, outside post but we've shipped and we're going to give it a go. I just want to see how he performs in his second start, if he can navigate a trip from that post and then see how he comes out of the race and go from there. I am under no pressure from the owner to force the Kentucky Derby but I'm not taking it off the table, so let's just see what happens."
Klarman and Brown have also rolled the Derby dice, though without the level of Preakness success. The Brown-trained Practical Joke ran fifth for Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence in the 2017 Derby, and Klaravich's Highly Motivated and Domestic Product were ninth and 13th, respectively, in 2021 and 2024 for Brown. Read the Footnotes also ran seventh for Klaravich Stables in 2004 for trainer Rick Violette.
Brown is 0-2-1 with nine runners in the Derby. His in-the-money finishes came for other owners: a second from Good Magic in 2018, a third from Zandon in 2022, and a nose runner-up finish from Sierra Leone in 2024.
Though Emerging Market drew the far outside in a nine-horse Louisiana Derby that includes stakes winners Pavlovian, Chip Honcho, and Golden Tempo, the post would not seem the hurdle it would be in a shorter race at 1 1/16 miles. There is nearly a quarter-mile run to the first turn in the Louisiana Derby, which will provide jockey Flavien Prat about 20-25 seconds to track those to his inside and secure a favorable position.
More than likely, he'll be stalking the Luis Saez-ridden Chip Honcho, who set the pace in the Risen Star before Paladin wore him down and Chip Honcho settled for second.
Emerging Market, a son of Candy Ride out of the Empire Maker mare Wild Empress, would not appear limited by the distance. Brown rates the colt's recent training as an A+.
Also encouraged by her colt is Cherie DeVaux, who runs Lecomte Stakes (G3) winner Golden Tempo, a late-running son of Curlin for owners/breeders Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable. DeVaux adds blinkers to his racing equipment after he rallied belatedly to finish a distant third in the Risen Star.
Regular jockey Jose Ortiz "breezed him the first time we put them on, and he said he noticed a change in the horse as soon as he stepped on the track," DeVaux said. "He's been a lot more forward in the bridle. He doesn't have to ask him to get into his works."
As for the Jeff Ruby Steaks, it would not appear as likely to produce a leading Triple Crown prospect. Only one of the 12 entrants—20-1 Stop the Car—has an existing win on dirt, the surface on which the Derby is contested. The others have raced mostly on turf or all-weather tracks.
The established class is Stark Contrast, who, after a debut fourth in a dirt sprint at Del Mar, has excelled in four grass races in California. Three of those resulted in victories, two at the stakes level, and his lone defeat was likely the best race of his career, a runner-up finish to Gstaad in the Oct. 31 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T).
He races for the same connections that won the 2024 Ruby with Endlessly: trainer Michael McCarthy and Amerman Racing. That colt went on to beat more than half the field when ninth on dirt in the 2024 Kentucky Derby.
Endlessly seeks to end an eight-race losing streak dating back to the 2024 Ruby when he races in the Kentucky Cup Classic Stakes (G3) on Saturday's undercard at Turfway.
